Global Risks & Future Threats

Historically, most terrorist attacks on civilian targets have involved the use of firearms or explosives, and current defensive strategies are aimed at preventing attacks perpetrated by such means. However, the use of the nerve agent sarin in 1995 to attack the Tokyo subway system, the use of the U.S. mail …

The potential use of nuclear weapons poses the greatest danger to U.S. security. According to the U.S. National Security Strategy, Recently Nuclear threat is rising again due to nuclear arms race in asia, modernisation of  nuclear arsenal by Major and regional powers, statement by countries like North Korea to use …

The words geopolitical, strategic, and geostrategic are used to convey the following meanings: geopolitical reflects the combination of geographic and political factors determining the condition of a state or region, and emphasizing the impact of geography on politics; strategic refers to the comprehensive and planned application of measures to achieve …

Genome editing (also called gene editing) is a group of technologies that give scientists the ability to change an organism’s DNA. These technologies allow genetic material to be added, removed, or altered at particular locations in the genome. Several approaches to genome editing have been developed.   CRISPR is a …

DARPA’s role and investments in defense-related research and development (R&D), including biological defense, has potential significance for the science and technology available to address the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and any future biological threats. In 2018, the  Biological Technologies Office (BTO) of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) …

The threat of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), such as chemical warfare agents (CWAs) and toxic industrial chemicals, is of great concern worldwide. This menace makes it necessary to detect the presence of such weapons in both military and civil environs. Toxic chemicals are used in large quantities by industry, …

The current global energy system is both unsustainable and inequitable, and large changes are required quite rapidly if there is to be any chance of limiting the effects of global warming. The global community has agreed on sustainable development goals attempting to integrate and balance the three dimensions of economic, …

Major infectious diseases, like COVID-19, often go undetected until they spread. Spotting the problem in a community isn’t easy, in part because infectious disease detection, which is the foundation for surveillance and contact tracing, can take hours, if not days. Compounding the problem is that traditional detection assays are designed …

Nanotechnologies involve designing and producing objects or structures at a very small scale, on the level of 100 nanometres (100 millionth of a millimetre) or less.  It allows humans to play with the building blocks of the universe, exploiting the laws of quantum mechanics to construct materials with unimaginable precision – …